When an Airline Served Nuts on My Flight, I Almost Died In Front of My Kids

Only two hours, and then we’re home, I told myself as my family and I boarded our flight back to Pennsylvania. We’d just spent a week in Disney World on our first official family vacation with the kids. My husband’s family had joined us, too. Together, we watched my daughter — a princess mega-fan — get made up at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and saw my son light up as he met some of his favorite characters. It was truly magical.

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For me, being able to eat at restaurants with my family was a rare treat. I have severe food allergies, and I’m always on high alert to manage them. At Disney, the head chef came out at each restaurant to go over my list of forbidden foods, making suggestions about how to alter the dishes to make them safe.

And my list is a long one: I can’t eat fresh fruit, raw veggies, shellfish, certain fish, seeds, and nuts. In college, while doing lab work as a biology major, I learned that I have a severe latex allergy. These allergies have only gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. Now, at 38, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve used an EpiPen to save my own life. It’s a burden, and it takes an emotional toll always having to wonder: What’s in that food? Is it safe?

About a month before the trip, my husband made our airline aware of my nut allergy, and a rep told him they would not be serving nuts on-board. I’d gotten through our flight to Florida and seven days in Disney World without trouble. Our return flight was overbooked, though, and that’s when things started to break down.

While we thought we’d all be enjoying a first-class flight — an upgrade we excitedly splurged on before the trip when we saw a last-minute deal — my husband, John, and I were forced to split up. He was bumped back to coach with our almost-5-year-old daughter, and I stayed in first class along with our 1.5-year-old son.

Only two hours, and then we’re home, I kept thinking.

Would you like a snack?” I heard an attendant ask mid-way through the flight. I looked up, and my heart dropped. She held these little trays of mixed nuts that looked like they’d been freshly roasted right there on the plane.

“I’m allergic to nuts,” I said.

“Oh, I’m not serving peanuts,” she said.

“I’m allergic to all nuts,” I clarified, but she then proceeded to ask the man sitting next to me if he would like some.

I ran to John and handed him the baby so I could hide in the bathroom. An airplane is such a confined space, and I kept thinking about the particles from the roasted nuts that could be floating in the recirculated air.

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When I left the bathroom a short time later, John asked if I was okay, but my voice already sounded funny. It’s the first to go when I have an allergic reaction.

I continued to my seat and hit the attendant call button, squeezing every last drop out of my pre-dosed vials of Benadryl. (Because it was such a short flight, and we’d been assured nuts wouldn’t be on-board, I didn’t think I needed to bring several vials.) But my airways were already closing and by the time an attendant arrived, I couldn’t talk at all.

I whipped out my EpiPen and jammed it into my right thigh. But knowing that its effectiveness only lasts between 10 and 20 minutes, and that the recycled airplane air meant the allergen was still going to affect me, I panicked even more. It felt like a bear was squeezing my chest, and I couldn’t get out of its tight grip. I jammed a second EpiPen into my thigh again and started gasping for air. The man next to me shouted to everyone in first class: “She’s allergic to nuts! Get rid of your nuts!”

I kept thinking: “I don’t want to die in front of my son. I didn’t even say goodbye to my daughter.”

My eyes started tearing up because I couldn’t breathe. My husband, who is a surgeon, asked the flight attendant what medical supplies they had on-hand. It was clear there was no protocol in place for a situation like this.

John put our son in front of my lap while he searched for any other medical supplies besides the oxygen and rubber gloves that they had. The baby looked up at me and cried, “Mama, mama!” I kept thinking: I don’t want to die in front of my son. I didn’t even say goodbye to my daughter, asleep in the back of the plane. I’m not ready to leave my babies.

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Someone gave me oxygen, and another flight attendant applied an ice pack to the back of my neck (why the ice pack, I have no clue). I noticed her latex gloves and became even more frantic. John yelled, “Stop touching her! She’s allergic to your gloves.”

The flight crew asked John if we wished to divert the plane to Charlotte, North Carolina. John said yes, and the captain made an emergency landing announcement. Thankfully, Charlotte Douglas Airport has on-site medics, and they took me off the plane and administered IV medications. My daughter woke up to witness the commotion. It has traumatized her, leaving her with severe separation anxiety. She’s still in weekly PTSD therapy sessions at the children’s crisis treatment center.

In the ambulance, the medical team stabilized me. I crashed about 15 minutes later and went completely unresponsive. The lights and sirens went on and the ambulance sped off to the hospital. When we arrived, they rolled me out and John covered the kids’ eyes so they wouldn’t see my lifeless body pass by while the medic provided resuscitation breaths.

I slowly came to and saw a small crowd of people rushing around me to save my life. They kept saying, “She ate peanuts.” I wanted to scream, “I didn’t eat nuts! I would never eat nuts!”

After being admitted and monitored in the ER, I was admitted to the hospital for observation and discharged the next day. But my problems didn’t end there. I have another medical condition called thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), which causes me to lose my pulse in my left arm. The anaphylactic reaction to the nuts on the plane caused severe pain and discomfort. Six months after my in-flight nightmare, it was clear that physical therapy and Botox injections weren’t cutting it. I needed major surgery, and afterward I was in a sling — unable to pick up my young son — for six months, and I continue to struggle a year later.

After surgery, where Powell had one rib resected and muscles released.

Tricia Powell

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With the scar under my arm, I am reminded of this whole ordeal every morning when I shower and put on deodorant. I have terrible flashbacks in my sleep and see a PTSD therapist weekly. I don’t know when or if I’ll ever be able to step on a plane again. And all of this because of roasted nuts served on a flight.

More than a year later, we’re still waiting for our apology.

The airline did respond to GoodHousekeeping.com’s request to comment below.

We recognize that some passengers are allergic to peanut and other tree nuts. Although we do not serve peanuts, we do serve other nut products (such as warmed nuts) and there may be trace elements of unspecified nut ingredient, including peanut oils, in meals and snacks. Requests that we not serve any particular foods, including tree nuts, on our flights cannot be granted. We are not able to provide nut “buffer zones,” nor are we able to allow passengers to pre-board to wipe down seats and tray tables. Our planes are cleaned regularly, but these cleanings are not designed to ensure the removal of nut allergens, nor are our air filtration systems designed to remove nut allergens. Additionally, other customers may choose to bring peanuts or other tree nuts on board. Therefore, we are unable to guarantee that customers will not be exposed to peanuts or other tree nuts during flight, and we strongly encourage customers to take all necessary medical precautions to prepare for the possibility of exposure.

Something needs to change, and it can’t wait until someone with a food allergy dies on a plane because nuts were served. Protocols must be put in place so people like me can feel safe while confined 30,000 feet in the air. Smoking on planes has been banned since 1988. With the increased prevalence of nut allergies in this country, why can’t nuts be banned next? Why can’t more airlines do what Southwest Airlines recently did, banning peanuts on all flights?

Shouldn’t my life mean more than an airline snack?

I know we can’t control what passengers bring on a flight, but shouldn’t my life — and the lives of others like me — mean more than an airplane snack? Many people don’t understand because they not affected by a life-threatening allergy, and they don’t have family or friends who are affected by allergies, either. This lack of understanding manifests as anger over a mere eliminated snack, but I believe their feelings would change if it were their loved ones in my shoes.

No one chooses to have these allergies, but I have chosen to start a petition to the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Department of Transportation asking to ban all nuts on airlines. I really do believe that everything happens for a reason. And if my terrifying experience can maybe help save a life, then it would have been worth it. I urge you to help bring awareness and change by signing and sharing the petition.

Tricia Powell was an ICU and NICU nurse is a mom of two living in Pennsylvania. Nicole Blades is a novelist and freelance journalist. Her latest book, Have You Met Nora?, is now available wherever books are sold.

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